I recently gave a talk on Enjoying Pale Male. I thought I would share the slides from the talk. Click on the slide or use your keyboard's right arrow to advance to the next slide. Hovering over the left edge allows you to skip to a specific slide.

(The player can be buggy, so don't get frustrated if you have problems.)

Pale Male and Octavia's nest was very active this afternoon. Two eyasses (nestlings) were visible at one point. A feeding lasted a very, very long time, so there is a change we have an unseen younger eyass that remains too small to be seen.

I've uploaded two videos, a short one that lets you see the two eyasses if you look closely, and a standard lengthy one.

Reports from the hawk bench are there at least two eyasses this year. They saw the oldest briefly in the afternoon, while another eyass was being fed. I hope to be able to capture "baby pictures" this weekend.

When the eggs hatch, which takes place one egg at a time, it takes about a week more to see the eyasses on the Fifth Avenue nest. The only clue that they've hatched are feedings and changes in behavior of both Pale Male and Octavia.

Today, an hour and a half apart, it appeared that Octavia was feeding an eyass. I'll let you judge the video for yourself, but it looks like we may have good news.

I arrived at the Fifth Avenue nest to the sounds of the St. Patrick's Day Parade. Pale Male was just leaving the nest. At first I thought it was empty but then I saw Octavia's tail in the wind. It looks like she's either getting ready to or has already laid an egg. Pale Male made another visit to the nest before perching on the Carlyle Hotel.

Hints of spring are in the air. The park has some Snowdrops and Forsythia in bloom and the city's Red-tails have begun to copulate. Today, I caught up with a Cooper's Hawk, and both of the Fifth Avenue Hawks, Octavia and Pale Male.

I started my raptor watching in the North Woods and then worked my way around the reservoir. My first raptor was a Juvenile Red-Tailed Hawk at the Wildflower meadow, who then flew around the Compost Heap. Then it was off to the reservoir, where a Peregrine Falcon has been seen for the last few days near the North Gate House. Then after looking at the nice selection of waterfowl using the open areas of reservoir, I ran into two adult hawks at the South Gate House. By then it was too dark to I.D. the hawks, but it looked like one of them was an intruder and the other was either Pale Male or Octavia.

Both Pale Male and Octavia are doing just fine in the cold. Both have been spotted numerous times over the long weekend. I got a few pictures of Pale Male on Saturday. Today, the hawk of my visit was a young hawk in the area of the Ramble called The Oven. This bird didn't get any not respect from numerous Squirrels and Blue Jays.

Pale Male and Octavia spent the late afternoon around Cedar Hill and the playground at 77th Street and Fifth Avenue. Pale Male was hunting halfheartedly and Octavia was keeping an eye on Pale Male. Both chased a Sharp-shinned Hawk at dusk. It was nice to get good looks at both of them, especially the shy Octavia.

Central Park was beautiful this afternoon. The snow covered trees and lawns but there wasn't enough snow to block any of the roads or paths. When I arrived a Red-tailed Hawk was chasing a small Accipiter, which I struggled to decide whether it was a Sharp-shinned Hawk or Cooper's Hawk. Later in the afternoon, Pale Male was in a tree near the 79th Street transverse.

When I found Pale Male this afternoon, he was sharing a perch with his mate Octavia. She quickly left and he stayed in the same general area for a few more hours. He looked to be interested in a late afternoon snack but only made one hunting attempt which came up empty. He left the area and looks to have switched to a roosting spot he uses in the late fall and winter. Other than this it was very much like it has been for the last month or so.

We finally are starting to get some fall temperatures and tree leaves are changing colors. Pale Male has become harder to find, but he went to Cedar Hill late in the afternoon, after chasing away a migrating raptor. He hunted two times, but came up empty on both passes.

On Saturday, after weeks of easy hawk watching, it was harder. Octavia and Pale Male spent time on the Carlyle Hotel but otherwise were hide to find until dusk. Pale Male left the hotel and went to a favorite tree on Castle Walk, before roosting near Glen Span Arch.

After dark I listened for bats. I had listened for bats twice earlier in the week. As I had those last few nights, I had plenty of Eastern Red Bats at the Model Boat Pond, but I only heard Eastern Red Bats. On a hunch, I decided to walk to the lawn between the Summer Stage and Fifth Avenue. There I heard a large number of Big Brown Bats, and a Silver-haired Bat.

Pale Male continues to hunt in the same location as he has late in the day for two weeks or more. In late August this isn't unusual, but usually he is hunting a bit further north. I guess this current location has the best rodents this year.